Author's Note: I'm currently waiting for the 7th HP book to be available for check out on my NOOK so I can write the epilogue of my in-progress HP fic, since I couldn't bring the book with me to Argentina. Since I can't work on that fic, I have skipped to this one. Lucky you.

-SQ

Disclaimer: "…"

Chapter Thirty-Eight: In the Loop

DING-dong! DING-dong! DI—

"Guys, would you cut it out? I'm coming!" Blaine yanked open the Hudson-Hummels' front door and scowled at Wes and David. The scowl lasted about two seconds before it melted into a grudging smile when he realized how glad he was to see his two best friends.

"Hey you," said Wes, pulling him into a tight hug.

"You look like shit, man," said David, patting Blaine on the back and propelling him and Wes through the doorway and into the house at the same time.

"Gee, thanks," said Blaine, returning the embraces. "I even got all made up for you." He motioned at his gelled hair.

"Awww, you shouldn't have," said Wes, fluttering his eyelashes.

"Oh shut up," said Blaine.

Finn stuck his head out of the living room. "Oh, hey guys. I thought I heard the doorbell ring."

"Yeah, you and the entire rest of the block," said Blaine. "It's like they want your parents to kick me out."

"My parents wouldn't kick you out."

"It was a joke, okay? My humor's kind of rusty."

The four boys went into the living room and sat down on the coach.

"So," said Wes more seriously, "what happened?"

Blaine sighed. "Where do I start?"

"Well, we know everything up until Kurt getting attacked and you disappearing off the map, so let's start with that."

Blaine rubbed his face.

"Take your time man," said David softly, patting Blaine on the shoulder.

Blaine opened his mouth to tell them about hearing Kurt and those guys in the parking lot, but what came out instead was, "Why weren't you guys there for me?"

"What?" Wes and David stared at him blankly.

"We've always been there for you," said David.

"Why didn't you do anything?"

"About what?" said Wes, confused.

"About my dad being an utter dick!"

"What could we have done?"

"You could have told someone what was going on!" Blaine didn't know where the rage had come from, hadn't realized that he had been feeling it until suddenly he could barely stand the sight of his two best friends. He pushed them away, putting as much distance between them and himself as he could within the confines of the couch. "You could have tried to get me out of there!"

"You told us not to!" said Wes, who looked rather shocked at Blaine's outburst. "You made us promise not to tell anyone! We let you stay over at our houses as much as we could—"

"I made you promise not to tell because I was scared!" shouted Blaine. "What were you scared of! ?" David jumped back, pulling Wes out of the way of Blaine's oncoming fist.

"Blaine!" Finn grabbed the smaller boy, pinning his arms to his sides. "Blaine. Blaine! This isn't helping!" He realized that the older boy was crying.

Blaine angrily dashed a hand across his eyes. "I needed help! Why didn't they help me! ?"

"We didn't know how bad it was for you, Blaine," said Wes, looking scared. "You never told us… You said things were mostly okay most of the time."

"I tried to kill myself! Does that seem like 'okay' to you?"

"That was before we met you—"

"You went to therapy—"

"They transferred you to Dalton—"

"You seemed happy—"

"But you knew that his dad still abused him," said Burt. All four boys jumped; they hadn't heard him come in. "That gave you a level of responsibility. Burt Hummel, Kurt's dad."

"Mr. Hummel," said David, "we wanted to help Blaine, we really did, but we didn't know how. He made us promise not to tell anyone."

"It was kind of our…leverage," said Wes. "To make sure things didn't get too serious."

"How serious is 'too serious'?"

The boys shrugged.

"Attempting suicide again, I guess," said David.

"Which we were afraid he would do if we told someone what was going on behind his back."

"He trusted us. We didn't want to let him down."

"It seems you failed at that."

"Yeah."

Burt walked over to the couch and motioned for Finn to move out of the way. "Blaine? You alright, kid?"

"No."

"You gonna punch me if I sit next to you?"

"No."

"Good." Burt sat. "Sounds like your friends really do care about you."

Blaine knew they did, but he was still too upset to do anything other than shrug.

"Did you want them to tell anyone, before now?"

"No," admitted Blaine. "I didn't want anyone else to know. I thought I could handle it."

"Seems like you all thought that. Teenagers," Burt shook his head, "think they can handle everything."

"Finn told. He told you and Carole. He didn't think he could handle it on his own."

Wes and David looked at Finn, who gave an uncomfortable half shrug.

"Finn's a smart boy sometimes," said Burt. "He's also a boy who grew up in a very different environment than the three of you. Raised by a single mother who encouraged him to come to her with his problems, instead of in a society where personal problems are supposed to remain hidden behind closed doors."

Blaine, Wes, and David nodded; it was an accurate description of the general upper-class Westerville mindset.

"So, I guess you have two choices, Blaine," said Burt. "You can tell your friends to leave, and we can get on with the business of figuring out your new life without them. Or you can fill them in on what's going on and include them in wherever you're headed now."

Wes and David looked at Blaine, silently begging him not to kick them out.

Blaine gathered himself up. If he couldn't talk about this with his best friends, how in the hell was he going to be able to talk about it with the lawyers and whoever else was about to get involved in this mess? "Yeah…so…um…Friday night…"

*****BB*****

"You're not going home—?"

"—You're leaving Westerville—?"

"—You're calling CPS—?"

"—You're going to press charges against your father—?"

"—Is he going to jail—?"

"—What about your mother—?"

"—Will you go back home—?"

"—Where are you going to live—?"

"—Are you coming back to school—?"

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know," said Blaine. "I really don't know what comes next any more than you guys do." He took a breath. "But yes, we're calling CPS, and yes, I'll probably press charges. And no, I don't think I'll go home. For now I'm staying here, but after that…" he shrugged helplessly. "I just don't know, guys. I do know that I don't want to leave Dalton. I mean, it's second semester of my senior year."

"Is your tuition paid through the end of the year?" asked David.

"Uh…I think so? Why?"

"Because your dad might not want to keep paying it now that you're…" David trailed off.

"Oh," said Blaine. The whole money issue hadn't even crossed his mind. "Oh crap. Oh shit. How am I going to pay for school? How am I going to pay for anything?" He was close to panicking again.

"Blaine," said Burt firmly. "We will cross that bridge when we come to it."

"I'm sure our parents won't mind chipping in for your tuition if need be," said Wes.

"And you should get some money out of your parents once this whole mess clears the courts," said David, whose father was also a lawyer.

"Yeah," said Blaine glumly. "If my father doesn't decimate whoever's representing me."

"I could see if my father would do it," said David.

"David, our fathers are friends—"

"They make polite conversation at school events; that hardly qualifies them as bosom buddies."

"I don't want to drag you into this—"

"And I don't want to be left out of it."

"We're your best friends, Blaine," said Wes. "We want to help you."

"And this time," said David, "we've learned our lesson and won't take no for an answer."

Burt nodded his head in approval. "That's what I like to hear."

*****BB*****

An hour later the four teenagers were still sprawled out over the living room couch, chatting and catching up and not really watching cartoons.

"Are you boys staying for dinner?" asked Carole, waving her hands to get their attention.

Both Finn and Wes sat bolt upright at the mention of food.

"Sure, I'd love—"

David elbowed Wes in the side. "We don't want to be any trouble."

"It's no trouble," Carole assured them. "Just call your folks to make sure it's okay."

"You say it's no trouble now," said David, as Wes whipped out his phone. "Just wait until you've experienced Wes's appetite."

"If he can outdo Finn and Puck, I'll give him a medal," chuckled Carole.

"Is that a challenge?" said Wes.

David groaned and sank back into the couch cushions. "Please, don't encourage him."

*****BB*****

"I officially declare it a tie," said Carole, clearing away Finn and Wes's empty plates from the table and dumping them into the sink.

"Who knew such a skinny dude could pack so much in?" said Finn, a hand resting on his sated stomach.

"My body is the favorite of all the chicks," said Wes.

Blaine snorted. "More like the envy of all the chicks."

Wes made a face at him. "What would you know? Girls always want what they can't have."

"Which counts you right out," said David.

"Who's going to load the dishwasher?" sang Carole.

"I can do it," said Blaine, standing up.

"Thank you, Blaine. I wish my own boys were half as polite and helpful. Finn, you can unload it later."

"Thank you for dinner, Mrs. Hudson," said David.

"Yeah, thanks," said Wes. "It was delicious."

"I'm glad you liked it," said Carole. "We'd love to have you over here again sometime."

"You can count on it," said Wes enthusiastically.

"With you folks," added Burt. "I'd like to meet them, especially if they are going to be involved with what's going on with Blaine."

Wes and David nodded soberly.

"Yes, of course," said David. "I'll talk to my dad right away."

"Me too," said Wes.

"Will we see you at school tomorrow, Blaine?" asked David.

Blaine hesitated. "Maybe not tomorrow. I think Kurt's gonna talk to the police about the attack. I don't know if he wants me there or not, but I want to be available just in case. Thursday definitely, though, I'll be there."

"See you Thursday, then," said Wes and David.

"Your friends seem like very nice young men," said Carole once the two boys were out of the door.

Blaine nodded. "They are. They're insane, but they're great. I don't know what I would have done without them. They pretty much adopted me when I showed up at Dalton, fresh out of therapy and not knowing a soul."

"In much the same way as you adopted Kurt when he needed someone to turn to," said Burt.

Blaine smiled. "Yeah, it was kinda like that, I guess. Without the whole falling for each other thing. I'm glad I was able to pass on some of what they did for me to him. Though he's done a lot for me too, without realizing it."

Blaine finished loading the dishwasher and then went upstairs to Kurt's bedroom. He figured he'd probably be able to sleep in there now that he knew Kurt was going to be okay and they weren't fighting. He was actually nearly asleep when Finn knocked on the door.

"Huh…?" said Blaine blearily, lifting his head from the pillow.

"Oh, sorry dude, were you asleep?"

"Nearly," said Blaine, sitting up. "What's up?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to make sure you were good before I headed to bed," said Finn a bit awkwardly.

Blaine smiled. "Yeah, Finn, I'm good. Thanks."

"No problem," said Finn, smiling back. "Well, goodnight then."

"Yeah, goodnight."

"Should I turn off the light?"

"Yeah, that'd be great."

Finn flicked the switch and the light went out once more. "'Night, Blaine."

"Goodnight, Finn."

"He's doing alright?" asked Carole softly as Finn padded past her in the hall on the way to his bedroom.

"Yeah," said Finn. "He's good. I'm glad you're letting him stay. I wasn't so sure about him at first either, but he's actually really cool."

Carole smiled. "I'm sure he is, Finn."

"And he needs a family, since his is pretty much crap."

"Yes," said Carole, more to herself than to her son, "that boy definitely needs some caring guidance in his life."

AN: Not really much to say. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for reading. Reviews, please and thank you ;)

-SQ